Getting a friend for my rabbit

Question
Hello,

I have a dutch dwarf rabbit(she will be a year in Nov.,we haven't spayed her yet)This is my first rabbit. I love her to death,therefore don't want to "hurt" her. We're planning to get(in the middle of Oct.2006)chocolate,male,lab puppy. My question is, how well they communicate, and how can I introduce them to each other(with out "hurting" their feelings)especially Dubby'(rabbit)she's the only animal in our apartment and she knows that(she allowed to run loose all the time under our supervision, and in my room)*which is very safe for her* Whats your recommendation in this situation.

Thank You!

Sep.27,2006

Answer
A good article for you to check out would be http://www.rabbit.org/journal/1/dogs.html  When they first meet, the puppy is going to need to be on a leash, and will have to stay on the leash or be supervised until he is obedience trained and realizes the rabbit is a member of his pack and not something to play with.

You might want to have a crate for the puppy so he has a place to hang out while the bunny has run of the apartment.  

Dubby is going to have her nose put out of joint, and the puppy is going to want to play with her possibly much too roughly for the rabbit's needs.

Check out the article.  It can be done, I know a number of people with dogs and rabbits, it just has to be done carefully.

Good luck.

Kim